Vidal not happy, but no problem with Barca boss Valverde

While frustrated with his absence from Barcelona's starting XI, Arturo Vidal has not used social media to hit out at Ernesto Valverde.

Sacha Pisani

09 October, 2018 07:45 IST

Barcelona midfielder Arturo Vidal - Getty Images

Sacha Pisani

09 October, 2018 07:45 IST

Arturo Vidal admitted that he is not happy with his limited playing time at Barcelona, though the midfielder insisted that he would tell Ernesto Valverde directly if he had a problem with the head coach.

Vidal has been in the headlines after reacting angrily to his benching in Barcelona's 4-2 win over Tottenham in the Champions League last week – the Chile international using social media to voice his frustration.

An angry emoji was posted on social media by Vidal – who arrived from Bundesliga champion Bayern Munich in the off-season – following the match at Wembley. Vidal was also absent from Valverde's starting XI for Barca's 1-1 draw away to Valencia in LaLiga on Sunday.

Asked about the situation at Camp Nou, the 31-year-old – who is in Miami for Chile's friendly against Peru on Friday before heading to Queretaro to face Mexico four days later – told reporters: "I am not happy, but if I have a problem with the coach I will say it to his face."

"How am I going to be happy if I don't play and me of all people. I am someone that has always fought, that has been in the best teams in the world, that has won everything and who wants to continue winning at Barcelona."

"I am fine physically and happy. In the past few games I have been a little irritated, but that's how it is, we will keep battling, there are a lot of important games ahead and we will see."

Vidal was quizzed specifically on his social media activity after quickly deleting a message, which read, "You don't need to fight with Judases, they end up hanging themselves."

"When I have a problem or I am angry, then I go straight to the coach and I speak to him. You can have various reasons for doing these things," he said.

"It [the Judas message] was nothing to do with anything sporting and I took it down to stop people speculating. There are personal things, jokes which you can put on social media and people take the wrong way."

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